Neerja Bhanot, a courageous 22-year-old Indian flight attendant, found herself at the center of a harrowing incident when Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked by terrorists during a layover in 1986.
The terrorists wasted no time in demonstrating their brutality by executing an Indian-American passenger and discarding his body from the plane. They then demanded Bhanot to collect all the passports of the passengers to identify Americans among them. Instead, Bhanot made a bold decision. She covertly hid the passports of the 43 American passengers, concealing some under seats and disposing of others in the trash.
After 17 agonizing hours of being held hostage, the terrorists began detonating explosives and opening fire. In an act of extraordinary bravery, Bhanot took action. She managed to open the airplane doors and, rather than fleeing to save herself, she selflessly guided other passengers towards safety. Tragically, she was struck by a bullet in the head while shielding three young American children from the hail of gunfire. Despite her sacrifice, Bhanot's heroic actions led to the rescue of 42 out of the 44 American passengers onboard.
One of the children whom Bhanot protected, then a 7-year-old, went on to become a captain of a major airline. He credits Bhanot as his eternal inspiration, acknowledging that he owes every single day of his life to her selfless act of bravery.
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